{"id":336643,"date":"2017-03-24T07:21:52","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T23:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1468323"},"modified":"2017-03-24T07:21:52","modified_gmt":"2017-03-23T23:21:52","slug":"tour-and-activities-marketplace-zozi-lays-off-30-of-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/tour-and-activities-marketplace-zozi-lays-off-30-of-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour and activities marketplace Zozi lays off 30% of staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Zozi<\/a>, a startup that describes itself as an OpenTable for tours and activities, and\u00a0which raised $30 million<\/a> from Richard Branson and others back in 2015, has laid off 30\u00a0percent of staff, TechCrunch learned and Zozi confirmed. The company says the restructuring\u00a0will allow Zozi to focus on its core B2B software platform, Zozi Advance, going forward.<\/p>\n

The company has 119 employees listed on LinkedIn<\/a>, as of the time of writing, but Zozi says this number has never been accurate.\u00a0Zozi\u2019s own website says there are 83 employees. The company\u00a0tells us it has roughly 60 employees today.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2007, Zozi has been around for some time, though never quite reached the same mainstream awareness of others in the travel space, like Airbnb, for example. The company originally followed the Groupon model of daily deals, before pivoting to focus instead on its marketplace<\/a> for getaways, adventures and tours.<\/p>\n

This saw Zozi competing in the same space as Groupon again \u2013 this time with its travel business, Groupon Getaways. However, Zozi\u2019s aim was to capture more of the millennials\u2019 interest, given the generation\u2019s penchant for wanting to having \u201cexperiences,\u201d rather than owning things.<\/p>\n

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Two years ago, the company raised an additional $30 million in Series C funding<\/a> in a round led by\u00a0Pritzker Vlock Ventures.\u00a0Sir Richard Branson, Par Capital Ventures, 500 Startups, Dolby Family Ventures and Bridge Bank also participated, bringing Zozi\u2019s total raise to date to $45 million.<\/p>\n

However, competition in the travel space is tough, with many players offering access to trips and activities. One of Zozi\u2019s larger rivals, Viator, was acquired by TripAdvisor for $200 million<\/a>\u00a0in 2014. Kayak and Expedia also now offer online reservations for tours and activities, and Airbnb more recently entered the space, too, with Airbnb Experiences<\/a>, following its acquisition of travel activities marketplace Trip4real<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are a number of startups playing in this market\u00a0as well, including Peek<\/a>, Triposo<\/a>, GetYourGuide<\/a>, and others<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zozi, to its credit, well understood the challenges in developing a standalone consumer-facing brand,\u00a0which is why it also developed\u00a0another side to its business: Zozi Advance<\/a>, an online bookings\u00a0and payments platform.<\/p>\n

That\u00a0system had grown to support several thousand businesses in nearly 90 countries as of last year, when founder and CEO T.J. Sassani said in an interview<\/a> that the company was seeing around a billion dollars flowing\u00a0through the Advance platform. A spokesperson for Zozi did not offer to update these figures, but rather said that \u201cMarch has been a record month for us in terms of new businesses added.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur business nearly grew 3x in revenue in 2016, and is on pace to grow 2x this year on our more efficient operating model,\u201d the spokesperson also said.<\/p>\n

As of January 2016, Zozi said 5 million people had used its service to book their activities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This side of the business has its competition as well, such as FareHarbor<\/a>, Xola<\/a>, Rezdy<\/a>, or Zaui<\/a>. And now, instead of competing with Viator, Zozi is\u00a0integrating<\/a>\u00a0with it.<\/p>\n

Zozi today\u00a0has\u00a0a decent 3.8 out of 5 rating on Glassdoor<\/a>, though some reviews cited a feeling of \u201cuncertainty\u201d around the business, with a lack of transparency from upper management. Employees said they didn\u2019t feel\u00a0clued in as to why there was turnover or why people were leaving. (We heard\u00a0this lack of transparency continued with this\u00a0restructuring, but take that with the proverbial grain of salt.)<\/p>\n

Reached for comment, a Zozi spokesperson confirmed the layoffs saying the\u00a0initiative impacted roughly 30 percent of the team,\u00a0and said it was a result of the \u201ca healthy business decision to double down what\u2019s working\u201d \u2013 that is, the\u00a0Zozi Advance B2B software platform.<\/p>\n

Zozi says the marketplace for activities is not being shut down.<\/p>\n

(Image credits: Zozi)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" Zozi, a startup that describes itself as an OpenTable for tours and activities, and\u00a0which raised $30 million from Richard Branson and others back in 2015, has laid off 30\u00a0percent of staff, TechCrunch learned and Zozi confirmed. The company says the restructuring\u00a0will allow Zozi to focus on its core B2B software platform, Zozi Advance, going forward. The company has 119 employees listed… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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